Sanitary cup



C. K. CHERRY Nov. 28, 1933.

SANITARY CUP Filed Jan. 15. 1931 .all

llllrll Patented Nov. 28, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT or-Flca lClaim.

The present invention relates to drinking cups and more particularly to sanitary drinking cups adapted to be used or dispensed in vending ma chines.

6 An object of this invention is to provide a sanitary drinking cup which may be made of water-` proofed paper or the like and which is so constructed that it may be readily removed from the vending machine and more particularly from the vending machine described in my pending application filed on March 28th, 1929, Ser. No. 350,781 for Vending machines and my allowed Patent No. 1,737,784 for Vending machines.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cup of this kind with means by which the cup may be held in adjusted position within the vending machine prior to release therefrom.

The above and various other objects and advantages of this invention will in part be described and in part be understood from the following detailed description of the present preferred embodiment, the same being illustrated in the accompanying drawing whereimf Figure 1 is a top elevation of a cup constructed according to the preferred embodiment of this invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially through the center of the device; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3'-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially through the center of a nest of cups showing the manner in which the longitudinal ribs hold the bodies of the cups apart.

Referring to the drawing wherein like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 10 designates generally the body of al truste-conical cup of paper construction which may be suitably water-proofed, the cup body 10 being crimped or turned over at the upper edge portion thereof as at,11 so as to provide a relatively smooth upper edge. The body of the cup 10 is provided with a-pair of diametrically opposed and longitudinally disposed pressed-in portions 12 which provide a longitudinally disposed recess 13 on the outer face of the cup.

When the cups 10 are in what is termed nested form, it is frequently difcult to remove only one cup at a time, particularly in a vending machine, due to the fact that a partial vacuum is formed particularlyin annular cups so that when the means for holding the lower cup of a stack is released, the lower-most cup will not readily drop onto a supporting table or carriage as more clearly described in my pending application Ser.

Through the provision of the longitudinally disposed slots 13, the vacuum ordinarily created between the stacked or nested cups is eliminated and the lower-most cup of the stack will readily drop by gravity onto a supporting member.

The rim 11 of the cup is also provided with a projection or pressed-out portion 14 which extends outwardly of the periphery of the rim, the projection 14 being adapted to be positioned in a longitudinally disposed groove of the dispensing apparatus so that the cups 21 will not rotate Within the dispensing tube. It will of course be understood that the tube or reservoir of the vending machine is provided 'with a longitudinally disposed groove for receiving the projection 14.

It will be obvious from the foregoing that any desired number of cups 10 may be positioned in nested or stacked relation depending only on the size of the vending apparatus. The cup herein disclosed will also render more easy the dispensing of they cups from the vending machine in view of the fact that no additional apparatus need be provided for forcing the cup 10 away from the succeeding cup so as to eliminate the vacuum.

It is, of course, understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above'specically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only bythe scope of the following claim:

A stack of smooth uncorrugated nested tapered cups, each cup having diametrically opposed longitudinal ribs pressed inwardly from the walls thereof and terminating adjacent the top whereby a plurality of cups may be positioned in nested form, the rib of a succeedingcup terminating above the rim of a preceding cuprto facilitate separation of the cups.

CHARLES IQEESS CHERRY. 

